With all of the political controversy and social unrest plaguing our daily lives, it may be difficult to find something to celebrate this Independence Day. I still firmly believe there is some good yet to be shown by the USA, so I took it upon myself to do some research. Believe it or not, there's a lot of information out there for us to celebrate...
1. In terms of area, the Pentagon is the biggest office space in the world.
One can only imagine how much havoc Michael Scott could wreak in that office.
2. Thanks to the US, the Internet was developed.
The United States was a "driving force" for the development of the Internet, so we can blame all of our wasted time on the good ole red, white, and blue.
3. People who live in the US are most likely to help others.
This is according to something called the World Giving Index.
4. Harvard, the world's second best university, was the first to exist in the United States.
Elle Woods is only one of their most famous alumni.
5. Our firefighters? Yeah, they're mostly volunteers.
Nearly 70% of all United States firefighters perform their services voluntarily.
6. Two of our presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, stayed patriotic two the end.
Both men died on July 4, 1826 after each serving as president.
7. Believe it or not, English isn't the official language of the United States. There isn't one.
I still can't believe how many people don't know this. Martin Van Buren, the first president born in the US, actually spoke Dutch as his first language for Pete's sake!
8. Which do we have more of: McDonald's restaurants or public libraries? The answer may surprise you...
Our nation does indeed have more libraries than McDonald's. It's such a shame that more people don't read.
9. Even more impressive is the number of museums we have.
There are more of these than ALL of the Starbucks AND McDonald's!
10. We love our furbabies.
In fact, we have 2 of them for every 3 humans. A life with pets is better than a life without!
11. We ESPECIALLY love our doggos.
We love them so much, we let them be in charge. The town of Cormorant, MN elected a dog as mayor for its 3rd term in August 2016.
12. Our families are always growing.
4% of women in the US are pregnant as we speak. Yay for babies!
13. Who run the businesses? Girls.
We aren't close to equality in this sense, but we're making strides. Women own 30% of all US businesses.
14. We truly are a nation of immigrants.
More people of Norweigan descent live in the United States than in Norway. Maybe that says something about Norway, maybe that says something about the US. Either way GO USA!
15. We're getting better at preserving our natural resources.
Specifically, we use less water than we did in 1970. How's that for conservation?
16. We truly believe in an open democracy.
We all have the ability to obtain power: the application to run for president consists of a single sheet of paper and takes about 4 minutes to complete.
17. We have a hotline for everything.
211 is a line that connects people with services they may benefit from.
#TEAMUSA
